McCrea
Though starting out with small intentions, McCrea has managed to work his way up to becoming quite a well known and normally favorable character of B. Roberts's. He is normally credited by B. Roberts herself as being one of her darkest characters as well. This may be the reasons he is often so appealing. Whether the appeal comes from love or hate for the character, it has to be said that he gets a lot of attention. Origins and Inspirations McCrea surprisingly started out as a character of little worth and did not come from straight forward inspiration. In fact, the idea that brought on McCrea's existence did not even come from B. Roberts at all. The idea that started the thought of McCrea in the first place was a project titled [http://queen-dedede.deviantart.com/gallery/6608968 Sweetsville] and was the creation of Beth Baines (commonly known as queen-dedede from devaintART). While it can't really be summed up without going off into a lot unrelated details, Beth was working on a mass RP idea for her Sweetsville concept and wanted people to join in. In short, she needed anthropomorphic food characters to be either members of The Resistance (the protagonists), The Empire (the antagonist), and those who were neutral. Finding the idea appealing, B. Roberts promptly decided to make a character. Even then, however, McCrea was not her first idea. The first character B. Roberts made for the project was an anthropomorphic pineapple simply named Screw who was for the Resistance side. As he wasn't for her own personal project, B. Roberts didn't take him very seriously and the future was already looking bleak for Screw's development. The chances of making a second character wasn't even a possibility at this time. Of course, as Sweetsville rapidly progressed over the next few days, things began to change. For one, there were many participants making characters for the Resistance side while the Empire side was severely lacking. Seeing as how a good protagonist could not be complete without a challenging antagonist, B. Roberts decided to try her hand at making someone for the other side. It was then that McCrea's development began to take place. You would imagine the first idea in creating McCrea would be his species, an onion. This, however, was not so. The first element for McCrea to come into play was making him a religious figure, as would soon become a trend for B. Roberts in late 2008 through 2009. It can't really be placed how the trend would be triggered, but McCrea would be the leader of it. If it had to really be pinpointed, though, it could probably stem from McCrea's main inspiration as a whole; the Cake song Comfort Eagle which starts with the lyrics we are building a religion, we're building it bigger. B. Roberts would use the song for other inspirations for McCrea as well, even leading to him being named after Cake's lead singer, John McCrea. Due to a mispronunciation on her part, however, McCrea's name ended up being pronounced "Mah-cree-uh" as opposed to the correction pronunciation "Mah-cree". The entire inspiration comparison can be listed as such: ----- :We are building a religion - McCrea is a priest. :We are building it bigger - He is also an inquisitor, bent on bringing people to his religion no matter what. :We are widening the corridors :And adding more lanes :We are building a religion :A limited edition :We are now accepting callers :For these pendant key chains - Pyramid pendants. :To resist it is useless - Inquisition once again. :It is useless to resist it :His cigarette is burning :But he never seems to ash :He is grooming his poodle :He is living comfort eagle :You can meet at his location :But you'd better come with cash :Now his hat is on backwards :He can show you his tattoos - His scars. :He is in the music business :He is calling you "DUDE!" :Now today is tomorrow :And tomorrow today :And yesterday is weaving in and out :And the fluffy white lines :That the airplane leaves behind :Are drifting right in front :Of the waning of the moon :He is handling the money :He's serving the food - Literally servicing to food people... :He knows about your party :He is calling you "DUDE!" :Now do you believe :In the one big sign - Asking about beliefs... :The doublewide shine :On the bootheels of your prime :Doesn't matter if you're skinny - Him :Doesn't matter if you're fat - His fetish :You can dress up like a sultan :In your onion head hat - KEYWORD :We are building a religion :We are making a brand :We're the only ones to turn to :When your castles turn to sand :Take a bite of this apple :Mr. corporate events :Take a walk through the jungle :Of cardboard shanties and tents :Some people drink Pepsi :Some people drink Coke :The wacky morning DJ - He has a radio show and is wacky meaning INSANE... :Says democracy's a joke - He's for dictatorship. :He says now do you believe :In the one big song :He's now accepting callers :Who would like to sing along :He says, do you believe :In the one true edge :By fastening your safety belts :And stepping towards the ledge :He is handling the money :He is serving the food :He is now accepting callers :He is calling me "DUDE!" :Do you believe :In the one big sign :The doublewide shine :On the bootheels of your prime :There's no need to ask directions :If you ever lose your mind :We're behind you :We're behind you :And let us please remind you :We can send a car to find you :If you ever lose your way - This sounds friendly, until you REALLY think about it. Just the way he appears... :We are building a religion :We are building it bigger :We are building :A religion :A limited :Edition :We are now accepting callers... :For these beautiful... :Pendant keychains Lyrics featured here are from the song Comfort Eagle by Cake and is the property of its respective owners. ----- Aside from Comfort Eagle, the other main inspiration for McCrea was the Spanish Inquisition, which is why his first name ended up being Cebolla (Spanish for "onion"). Another notable inspiration for McCrea would be the character Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, namely Disney's portrayal of him. It could also be noted that he is very similar in looks to the Veggie Tales character simply referred to as Scallion #1, though no inspiration actually came from the character. Further inspirations for McCrea would come from characters portrayed by the actor Steve Buscemi, namely the character Carl Showalter from the Coen Brothers' film Fargo. This would lead to McCrea's canon "voice" being that of Buscemi's. Developement Backstory Cebolla J. McCrea was born a bastard child, his father refusing to claim him since there was no real proof nor marriage between he and Marie, McCrea’s mother. Since Jeremiah was about the only chance of sanity in McCrea’s life, the kid never really had a chance. His mother was absolutely insane, more so than he himself is today. Most of her anger she took out on McCrea during his childhood, convincing him that he deserved it. They lived a life of poverty throughout his entire time with her. Once he was old enough to realize her ways, he only stuck around for the sake of survival being greater in groups. He often tried to find ways to move out on his own and depend on himself for survival, trying to put his mom’s ways behind him, but had no real luck. He got mixed in with the “wrong crowd”, as they say, and found himself depending on a thug known only as Fletcher. Fletcher often used McCrea’s lack of survival resources against him, promising rewards in return for committing various crimes for him. One such crime ended up getting McCrea arrested. Since he had failed his task, Fletcher took it upon himself to punish McCrea for it, cutting a scar over his right eye. Without the necessary means to tend to his wound, it soon became infected causing McCrea to become deathly ill. Just when all hope seemed lost, McCrea found himself at the stoop of a nearby cathedral where he met the good priest, Waldron Beverly . Waldron took McCrea in and nursed him back to health. McCrea realized that if he left the church, he would just be going back to his old ways on the streets again alongside filth like Fletcher and his own mother. Noticing Waldron’s happiness that he had found in religion, McCrea decided that from there out, he would train to become a priest too. With this decision, he caught the attention of another nearby priest as well. This was Nehemiah Forester… Nehemiah persuaded McCrea to train under him, convincing him that he had a more promising future under his teachings, even working directly for the president in some cases. While this was true to some extent, McCrea found Nehemiah’s work to be filled with corruption and sadism. He had now not only become a priest, but part of an inquisition to stop those against the empire he now worked for. While his heart told him to be against these ways, his brain knew that he would have to turn back to the streets otherwise. Deciding that this way was the lesser of two evils, he let corruption consume him. Currently, if he were to be given a choice of becoming a good person like he wanted to be, he would still refuse it. He has come to embrace his sadistic and corrupt ways, and has thoroughly convinced himself that that is what he wants… Personality Many words can be used to describe McCrea. “Insane”, “sadistic”, and “cunning” are just a few of those. However, only one word can sum him up altogether, and that’s “bitter”. He hates pretty much everything to some extent, and that’s because he’s bitter at the world due to the cruelty life has seemed to constantly deal him. He does have a good side deep in there somewhere, setting up obsessive emotional attachment to those who have actually shown him sincere kindness, but overall hides it. He considers his past life “dead” and doesn’t like showing any reminders of it, happiness included. Relationships Other